This document is designed to serve as a technical guide for electronically communicating with First American Lenders Advantage using XML and either the SOAP or HTTP protocol (the process to be further referred to as “Advantage XML Web Service”). This document will fully define the communication process, provide complete definitions of the XML used in the communication process, detail the SOAP methods, HTTP requests and, finally, include the Document Type Definitions (DTDs) upon which the XML specification is based.
While this document is geared toward technical personnel, a non-technical reader should be able to gain at least a basic understanding of the features and benefits of the Advantage XML Web Service.
In deference to the countless terms, acronyms and technologies that currently relate to XML and the Internet, the following definitions are provided to help ensure that the reader clearly understands document. If you are unfamiliar with XML, you might want to start by reviewing http://www.xml101.com or http://www.xml.com, or http://www.w3.org/XML.
| Item | Description |
| Attribute | In an XML document, provides further information about an element. |
| DTD | Document Type Definition Defines an XML document’s structure by listing the name, quantity, order, and type of each element and attribute. While a DTD can be provided inline with the XML document, the ELS XML Web Service always provides DTDs as external references to a URL on ELS’ server. |
| Element | A portion of an XML document. An element names a section of information and may include simply a single data value, or any combination of one or more attributes and elements. |
| HTTP | Hyper Text Transfer Protocol The standard mechanism for communicating over the Internet. |
| HTTPS | Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (Secure) Identical to HTTP, except that all information is encrypted for additional security. |
| SOAP | Simple Object Access Protocol A lightweight, XML-based protocol that provides an easy, fast, and convenient mechanism for exchanging information on the web. |
| Web Service | Applications that are self-describing, self-contained and invoked using standard Internet-based mechanisms – HTTP and XML. Given its nature, a web service is platform-independent. |
| WSDL | Web Service Description Language A standardized language used to document the functionality of a web service. |
| XML | eXtensible Markup Language A standardized mechanism for defining structured documents that contain both content (data) and description of what the content represents. |
The Advantage XML Web Service provides Lenders with automated access to a wide range of the Title, Flood, and Valuation products needed to efficiently close home equity loans (see the “Product Codes” section for a complete list of available products).
Some of these products are database driven and will be delivered online at the speed of the Internet. Others will require a manual process that may take a day or more to fulfill.
At the heart of the web service is a queue that contains orders that are waiting for you. By using the SOAP functions provided with this service, you have the ability to:
· Put orders in the queue that Lenders Advantage will internally work on until the order is complete
· Get a list of orders that Lenders Advantage feels need your attention / intervention. This is generally a list of orders that are complete.
·
Load information for a known order so that you get a current
snapshot of the order.
The Advantage XML Web Service supports the SOAP protocol in both http and https formats. Please note that due to recent legislature regarding information security, only the HTTPS (secure HTTP) protocol should be used for production. Furthermore, only the POST method is supported.
This is the first step. To place an order, you must create an ElsRequest document that describes the property you are ordering product(s) for and what product(s) you want to order. The order is then entered into our system by calling the PlaceOrder SOAP function.
Upon completion, the PlaceOrder SOAP function will give you
an ElsResponse document back. This document gives you a complete snapshot of
your order as it currently exists in our system. The key piece of information
you need from this response is the Confirmation Number as it uniquely
identifies the order within our system.
IMPORTANT:
Several products can be fulfilled immediately and will be denoted as “Completed” in the ElsResponse document. These products generally have the name “online” in them and are fulfilled by Lenders Advantage making XML and SOAP calls to various data providers from around the country to get the information needed to complete the product.
Most of the products that you will order through the Advantage XML Web Service will not be completed right away. These products generally will be listed as “Work In Progress” or “In Research” and will be placed in the order queue when their status changes.
Now that you have placed an order, you need to know when all work on it is finished. By using the GetOrderQueue SOAP function, you can ask for a list of all orders whose status has changed since the last time you checked. By going through the list, you can decide what action, if any, needs to be taken on your side.
Every order you place through the SOAP service will be available for online viewing at https://www.online.lendersadvantage.com. Simply login with the same username and password that you were given for the Advantage XML Web Service and you have a great debugging tool since you can view all of your orders via a web browser.